Digital Upstarthttps://www.digitalupstart.com
Supercharged sales and marketing tacticsFri, 08 Dec 2017 17:24:14 +0000en-GBhourly1https://wordpress.org/?v=4.9.1The Digital Upstart Highlights of 2017https://www.digitalupstart.com/eletter/digital-upstart-highlights-2017/
https://www.digitalupstart.com/eletter/digital-upstart-highlights-2017/#respondFri, 08 Dec 2017 17:24:14 +0000https://www.digitalupstart.com/?p=7416I love all the ‘Best of 2017’ lists that appear EVERYWHERE at this time of year, in almost every publication and website you can think of. It’s not the albums or films that I’ve heard or seen that I care about seeing on these lists… It’s the ones I’ve missed – or the ones I […]

I love all the ‘Best of 2017’ lists that appear EVERYWHERE at this time of year, in almost every publication and website you can think of.

It’s not the albums or films that I’ve heard or seen that I care about seeing on these lists…

It’s the ones I’ve missed – or the ones I never even realise existed.

As a copywriter, editor, marketer and web developer (I’ve a LOT of hats) I don’t get time to keep on top of all the cultural news and reviews. So at the end of the year I scoop up all the films and albums I’ve missed and spend time with them over the Christmas break.

Well, this year I want to do the same for you…

Because I’m sure you’ve not had time to see every piece of online marketing advice we’ve offered.

Which means you might have missed THE crucial piece that could have really helped you out.

So let me give you a rundown of my top 10 Digital Upstart highlights of the year.

1. A Lazy Way to Get Traffic from Old Blog Posts

This year we introduced a simple technique for getting a traffic boost from an old piece of content that you’ve already created.

Well, this year we shared some content marketing techniques that will help even the most ‘boring’ business have an interesting website and social media feed to attract buyers and keep existing clients engaged.

Thanks to blogs, YouTube, Podcasts, Twitter, Instagram and Facebook pages it’s never been easier to get your content out there…. but in a noisy, saturated online world it’s now very hard to get noticed and even harder to convert casual visitors into buyers.

This is why we came up with 8 ‘stepping stones’ you can use to pull in the punters once you’ve grabbed their attention. Stepping stones are those points of contact you make every day through your platforms, channels and networks. Put together in a strategy, they can lead prospects top where you want them to go.

This year we’ve created special mastery blueprints for some of the key areas of online business. We’d encourage you to become a premium member and read all of them, as they show you how to build websites, sell via email, launch products, manage your social media and many other essentials.

One of the mastery blueprints was about attracting traffic and sales using a simple blog website. If you’re a premium member of Digital Upstart then you should have received a free copy of Instant Blog Mastery.

]]>https://www.digitalupstart.com/eletter/digital-upstart-highlights-2017/feed/0Let’s Make 2018 Your Breakthrough Year (But First I Need Your Help)https://www.digitalupstart.com/eletter/lets-make-2018-breakthrough-year-first-i-need-help/
https://www.digitalupstart.com/eletter/lets-make-2018-breakthrough-year-first-i-need-help/#commentsThu, 30 Nov 2017 15:17:17 +0000https://www.digitalupstart.com/?p=7382I want to make sure we deliver you the best marketing advice possible here at DU. To do that we have to plan way ahead. Next week, we’re all going to sit down and plan out what we’re going to do after Christmas and New Year. We all want 2018 to be the year in […]

]]>https://www.digitalupstart.com/eletter/lets-make-2018-breakthrough-year-first-i-need-help/feed/3How to Use Surveys to Find Out What Your Customers Really Want [Includes Template]https://www.digitalupstart.com/how-to-convert-visitors-to-buyers/use-surveys-find-customers-really-want-includes-template/
https://www.digitalupstart.com/how-to-convert-visitors-to-buyers/use-surveys-find-customers-really-want-includes-template/#respondFri, 17 Nov 2017 14:44:21 +0000https://www.digitalupstart.com/?p=7340A couple of weeks ago I wrote to you about ethical stalking. It’s an essential online business marketing practice whereby you find out as much about your customers as possible – which includes getting in touch with them to find out what they really think. You can get brilliant results from this… such as higher […]

It’s an essential online business marketing practice whereby you find out as much about your customers as possible – which includes getting in touch with them to find out what they really think.

You can get brilliant results from this… such as higher open rates and click-throughs, larger emails, social media lists and more profitable product launches.

For a full list of suggestions on how to ethically stalk your best customers, click here.

I wanted to follow this up by recommending a tool that will help you get a more accurate picture of your best customers and what they really want from your business.

This way you can avoid wasting your time and money on products or services that are doomed to fail.

It’s amazing how few businesses do this effectively. Quite simply, you run a survey – a short list of questions which you put online.

You then direct your blog readers, email subscribers and social media followers to visit that page and answer the questions.

To encourage them you can offer an incentive, such as a free eBook or software download, or maybe a prize draw. Or simply stress that they will be helping you deliver them a far better service in the future that will improve their lives!

It’s very simple to run a survey online. My recommendation is Survey Monkey which has 200 pre-made survey templates here.

As well as readymade templates, Survey Monkey offers customisation, where you can add your logo, tweak the theme to match your website design and build your own thankyou pages.

You can see the results and they come in, and the final report is really easy to read and analyse.

When you join up, the site is self-explanatory and they lead you through the steps as you go along. The only tricky bit is making sure that the survey extracts the information that you need – and that enough people take the survey to make the sample valid.

So to help you, here’s our Digital Upstart guide to surveys…

What to put in your survey

First, make sure your survey has a clear goal.

What is your main objective? What do you really need to know about your customers?

For instance, you might want to focus on what your customers think about your website, how they use it and what they’d like to see improve.

Alternatively, you could find out about a specific problem or challenge that your customers face in their day-to-day lives, so that you could create a product or service to help them

Or perhaps you’d like to find out about their experiences with a specific product you’ve sold – or try and gauge their potential interest in a specific product you plan to launch.

Whatever you decide, I recommend asking around 10 questions. Depending on your objective, they could include questions based on:

• What their primary life goal is, related to your field of business (for instance, if you’re a nutritional product site, it might be pain relief or weight control)

• What obstacles stop them succeeding in their goals?

• Where they go for their information and advice (what they read/watch/listen to)

• What other products or services they’ve tried to solve their problems or achieve their goals

• What they’ve liked or disliked about other products/services

• What they’ve found most useful or enjoyed the most about your services or product

• What they’ve found most irritating/annoying/problematic about your services or product

• If they could improve one aspect of your business/services, what would it be

I’d also recommend you end the survey with an option for them to offer some information in their own words. For instance, ask them to describe in a few sentences what they’ve most like to achieve in life, or what most frustrates them.

What you get from this is something known as ‘copy fodder’. These are real phrases from real customers that you should compile and use to help create brilliant future sales copy that speaks in their language.

Of course, the success of your survey depends on getting a good amount of people to take part…

How to Get the Best Response from Your Survey

To ask your customers to take the survey, send out a short email to explaining what the survey is for and how it will help them.

Here’s a rough template for the email…

Subject line: Can I ask you a favour?

Dear NAME,

My name is [your name] from [company].

Thanks so much for your interest in our products/service/website [if possible, be specific about what they might have bought or signed up for]

As a really valued customer/subscriber/client I’d love to know what you think of our service, and how we can improve it so that you enjoy even better/more [insert the main benefit of your service/product/website]

So I hope you don’t mind, but I’d like to ask you a BIG favour…

If you have a couple of minutes spare, please could you fill in a very short survey for me? Be as honest as you can! Your answers will help me improve/develop new [products/benefits]

All you have to do is click here: LINK TO SURVEY

You don’t have to answer all the questions if you don’t wish to, but the more feedback, the better I can help you in the future.

Oh, and rest assured, your response will be kept private and confidential. I won’t be sharing this with anyone else.

Many thanks in advance for your help. This could really help make [product/website/service] better than ever.

OPTIONAL: As a special thanks for your response, I’ve got a little gift lined up for you.

Regards,

Your NAME
Company

You can also do this in the form of a blog post and then post it on social media.

Whatever you decide, here are some essential pointers…

• Make sure your invitation comes from the usual contact name – that is, whoever usually writes the emails, blogs or runs the social media. If that’s more than one person, pick the person in the highest authority, who the customer is most likely to know.

• Talk to the reader as if writing to an individual and not to a general group. Avoid addressing them as ‘customer’.

• Avoid business jargon or cliché, eg: “We’re in the process of assessing our customer interface to improve the end user experience” – instead it should be, “Hi, I’m looking for ways to improve our website and products for you, can you help?”

• Explain what’s going to happen, and how long it will take, so you can overcome any objections, such as “I’m too busy”, “I’m probably not the best person to ask”, “you wouldn’t be interested in what I have to say”.

• Flatter the responder. People love being asked for their opinion on things. “We really want to know what you think – be as honest as possible”.

• Reassure the customer that their response is private and you’ll protect their details.

• Be honest about why you are doing the survey and what is in it for the responder. For instance, it could be that their answers will help you come up with a better service for them, with more products/services.

• End the invitation with a call to action. Tell them precisely what to do. For instance, “please click on this link where you’ll be taken directly to the survey. Take a few minutes to answer the questions”.

I hope this helps. If you do try a survey, let us know how you get on!

]]>https://www.digitalupstart.com/how-to-convert-visitors-to-buyers/use-surveys-find-customers-really-want-includes-template/feed/0Why ‘Ethical Stalking’ Will Improve Your Online Marketing Resultshttps://www.digitalupstart.com/eletter/ethical-stalking-will-improve-online-marketing-results/
https://www.digitalupstart.com/eletter/ethical-stalking-will-improve-online-marketing-results/#respondFri, 03 Nov 2017 14:50:31 +0000https://www.digitalupstart.com/?p=7307Before I begin, let me be clear. We’re NOT advocating stalking people in real life. You know… following people down the street, hacking into their letters, standing outside their house, checking their Facebook pages every day… that kind of thing. But… As an online business there is a very good reason to stalk your customers […]

You know… following people down the street, hacking into their letters, standing outside their house, checking their Facebook pages every day… that kind of thing.

But…

As an online business there is a very good reason to stalk your customers (and an ethical, honest and open way to do so.)

Because think of it this way….

Who IS your ideal customer? Do you really know?

What do they like and dislike? What gets them excited? What gets them riled? What do they read? Where do they shop? Where do they hang out? What do they like to read, watch and share on social media?

If you don’t have a clear idea of these things, you’ll find it hard to share content that really appeals to them. It will be hard to aim your next product launch at their true needs, fears and desires. And it will be even harder to craft a sales pitch that taps into their true emotions.

So when it comes to digital marketing, you need to get out there and stalk your customers – find out who they are, where they live, what they do an what makes them tick.

This way you’re products, services and sales messages are more likely to hit the bullseye.

Of course, this doesn’t mean doing anything illegal, like hacking their emails, or anything sinister, like pestering them continuously.

Instead, it means reaching out to them, making friends and asking them openly what you can do to help. Gather as much intelligence on your core customers as possible, then use that to create a profile of your ideal customer, known as a customer avatar.

Here ae some suggestions….

• Email your customer – send out a personal email (not mass mailing) to your best repeat customers or the people who most often open and respond to your email newsletters. Ask them for feedback. Even better, email them a survey (see the article below).

• Telephone your customer – if this is one of those customers who responds to your requests for feedback and repeatedly subscribes, reads or purchases, then you should have nothing to fear by giving them a call. However be sure that it’s appropriate to do so. Be polite and explain that you’re calling because you’re grateful for their custom and would really value their opinion on ways you can make your service/product better. Ask them if they have couple of minutes spare for a quick chat, and reiterate that it’s confidential between the two of you.

• Listen to what your customer is saying in their feedback. Note down their frustrations, objections and goals. What annoys them about your product and services? What could do better? What pleases them about your product and services? How could you improve upon that?

• Create a correspondence file – there will be some customers/readers/subscribers who contact you a lot or who respond to your requests for feedback. Save all their correspondence into a file. If you can get a photograph of the person, even better. Keep adding to this detailed portrait of your customer and you’ll have something far deeper and more advantageous than a regular profile.

• Track your customer’s email stats – if you use a broadcaster like www.mailchimp.com it is very easy to look at your list and see how many of your emails your customer has opened, how often they’ve read it and which of the links they’ve clicked on. Note down which topics, subject lines and content they’ve most enjoyed, and which they’ve least enjoyed.

• Send them a birthday or Christmas message. This is a commonly used method that you might have heard about already. You are likely to have records of your customer’s birthday, so if appropriate then use that to send a simple card saying “Happy Birthday” with your website details and, if you choose, a special offer of some kind.

• Invite them for a drink. Consider holding an event, seminar, meet-up or special sale for a group of your best customers, where you can get to talk to them personally. Make sure there are refreshments and a chance for informal chat as part of the event.

• Find out and then use their name (even better if they have a nickname or shortened version of their name for friends only). If possible you should use this real first name when they call, email, purchase or subscribe. This immediately breaks down barriers and

• Get to know your customer’s preferences. Does your customer order a certain product, type of product or number of items every time? Do they have certain preferences for the way something is delivered or prepared? Either you, your staff or customer service team need to find these out and keep them on record for easy recall. For instance, my coffee shop know the exact nuances of my order as well as the times of day I’m likely to appear.

• Encourage them to send in their photographs, stories, question and feedback. Use these to create specific customer profiles using real photos, real quotes and match them to statistics such as their average annual spend, or open rates and responses. Offer rewards or a prize for customers sharing pictures of them with the product or enjoying the service.

• Test an offer – come up with a couple of different offers to test against your usual one (examples include: price discount, free trial, extended guarantee, 2-for-1 or ‘buy one get one free’, time-limited discount, free delivery). See which one your customers go for.

• Keep a swipe file – although you might have built a profile of one or two main customers, other customers may only get in touch once or twice. But even these have a value. Whenever you get emails, social media comments or letters that contain positive or negative comments, copy them into file. I call this ‘copy fodder’ because if gives you hundreds of tiny, genuine insights into how your customers feel, think and express themselves. – these are objections you can answer and phrases you can use in your content to connect more deeply with what your customer is really saying, using the language they use, an tackling objections head on.

What to do with the information

Pick out at least one respondent, then order the information into the following (you might not get all this but see what you can do)

• What’s their first name or nickname?

• How old are they?

• Male/Female?

• What do they look like? (Use a photo or come up with a photo that looks most like how they describe themselves, or seem from their responses)

]]>https://www.digitalupstart.com/eletter/ethical-stalking-will-improve-online-marketing-results/feed/0Use This Simple Checklist to Ensure Your Sales Copy Works First Timehttps://www.digitalupstart.com/how-to-convert-visitors-to-buyers/use-simple-checklist-ensure-sales-copy-works-first-time/
https://www.digitalupstart.com/how-to-convert-visitors-to-buyers/use-simple-checklist-ensure-sales-copy-works-first-time/#respondFri, 27 Oct 2017 09:52:34 +0000https://www.digitalupstart.com/?p=7229“Tom, how do you do it?” This was the question asked me by a friend the other day. He wasn’t marvelling at my ability to eat a starter, main course AND desert. Nor was he asking about my excellent collection of humorous T-Shirts. He was wondering how I wrote copy for a living. He sees […]

Every piece of communication is a stepping stone towards a sale. That process starts from the second someone follows your Facebook business page, follows you on Twitter, or signs up for a free report.

To succeed online, all those little bits of content have to be persuasive. They have to show that you are human, passionate and credible, with something to offer your followers and subscribers.

To achieve this, you do need to have some understanding of how good copy works.

Ultimately you’re looking to get that customer to buy something, which requires some sales copy.

This could be a promotional email or blog post, a web page or squeeze page.

Now if you’re lucky enough to have copywriters to hand, that’s great. Or if you’re doing well enough to outsource copywriting to freelancers, brilliant.

In both these cases, you won’t have to write anything yourself…

But it doesn’t quite let you off the hook!

If you can recognise good copy when you see it and understand the core principles of persuasive communication you’ll have a huge edge over the competion.

It’ll help you to effectively critique the work you outsource and get real value from your freelancers.

However, you might be like my friend…

You might find writing utterly tedious, baffling, and just not your thing. Maybe it’s not your first language. Maybe you’re dyslexic. Maybe you’d rather chew your own arm off than spend the day tapping away on your computer like I do.

So what then?

How do you run an online business?

Well, the simple answer is to find a shortcut by using templates, checklists and swipe files based on stuff that already works.

Now, there’s a lot of that kind of advice for free here on Digital Upstart, so I highly recommend you have a look around this site.

For members of the Digital Upstart premium service there is a comprehensive action plan for good copy which includes examples and templates. It’s called Promo Mastery and you can access it by starting your risk-free trial here.

But today I want to give you a useful checklist that will help ensure that any piece of sales copy you create does the job for you, whether it’s something you wrote or something you’ve received from a copywriter or agency.

Copy Checklist

Structure checklist:

• Headline (this must be at the top, or thereabouts) – Does the headline make a bold promise with a clear benefit?

• Promise – Do your opening paragraphs offer a series of benefits to the reader?

• Introduce yourself or your business – Is it clear who the sales pitch is coming from and why you are addressing the reader?

• Picture – Have you tried to get the reader to imagine how good (or bad) their life will be with your product or service?

• Proof – is what you promise or claim believable? Have you offered evidence, illustrations, quotes or statistics?

• Risk-reversal or reassurance – have you answered any potential objections or fears that might stop someone from buying your product.

• Call to action – Have you made it clear what the prospect has to do to order the product, sign up for the service or subscribe?

• Offer – Do you make it clear exactly what the customer is going to get and when? Do you state precisely how this will be delivered?

• Price – have you made sure the price is framed against the big benefits and also seen as value for what they get?

• Urgency – Is there a good reason for the prospect to act on this now rather than later? If you can’t do a limited stock offer or limited time offer, perhaps find a way to tell the reader why waiting for these benefits until later could mean they lose out.

• Bonus (optional, but recommended) – can you offer them something extra to entice them to buy?

• Testimonials – if you have them, use them, if not consider giving your product out for free for people to trial or test.

• Sign off – is it clear this is coming from a real individual?

• PS (optional but recommended) – can you sum up the benefits and offer?

Style checklist:

• Is the headline large and in bold? – It does 90% of the work and must stand out. No clutter, no images behind it. It must be in black or a dark colour.

• Is there an eye-catching image that’s relevant to the product? – an image of the happy customer, a cartoon, an infographic or illustration that’s relevant to the theme of the sales pitch.

• Is there a photo of you, your product, customers or team? – Not all are essential, but the more visual proof the better.

• Does the letter address a single “you”, rather than being aimed at a group or audience?

• Is the copy broken up with subheads that flag up benefits?

• Are the sections linked with sentences like “Here are some examples”… “let me show you what I mean”… “Now, here is the next step” . . . “But there is one thing more”?

• Are there any sentences that you struggle to read quickly and easily? If so break them down into simpler pieces?

• Are the paragraphs in a variety of different lengths?

• Are there any flowery words, jargon or business-speak? Find a simpler, more natural way of saying it.

Run this check over all your current sales copy and do the same to any new drafts you receive. It’s not fool-proof, but it’s a start.

For a full guide with templates and shortcuts, make sure you check out our Promo Mastery action plan in the member’s area. If you’re not a member yet you can start your risk-free trial here.